Michael Sarrazin Dies at 70

Michael Sarrazin, whose late '60s and early '70s movies included the Oscar-nominated They Shoot Horses, Don't They with Jane Fonda, died of cancer Sunday in a Montreal hospital, his agent told the Los Angeles Times. The Quebec City-born actor was 70.

Among his other movies were The Flim-Flam Man with George C. Scott, The Sweet Ride with Jacqueline Bisset – with whom he had a long relationship – as well as Sometimes a Great Notion and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, both with Paul Newman, and For Pete's Sake, with Barbra Streisand.

Although never a full-fledged box-office name, the lanky, boyish Sarrazin was up for the leading role of Joe Buck in 1969's Midnight Cowboy – but, because of Sarrazin's contractual commitment to another studio, the part went to, and made a star of, Jon Voight.

Survivors, according to the Times, include two daughters, Michelle and Catherine, and a brother, Pierre, a producer.